GPs seek farmer-friendly healthcare accreditation

Farmers are being invited to help shape plans for a new farmer-friendly approach to primary healthcare, modelled on an existing accreditation scheme for military veterans. 

Portcullis Surgery in Ludlow, part of the South West Shropshire Primary Care Network, has secured funding to investigate how GP services can better support farming communities – and has launched a survey to help achieve this. 

Practice manager Rachel Wilding said the idea stemmed from the Royal College of General Practitioners’ (RCGP’s) veteran-friendly accreditation, which Portcullis Surgery adopted several years ago.

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“We were quite early adopters of that scheme,” she explained. “We actually have a GP who is a veteran, so Dr Hartley sees a lot of the veteran patients we get.”

The accreditation recognises the specific needs of former service personnel and can help speed up referrals in secondary care.

Ms Wilding believes a similar system could benefit farming communities, which often face isolation and barriers to seeking support.

“There’s nothing like that for farmers,” she said. “I would say the farming community faces the biggest health inequality, and we just want to improve access as our main aim.”

Tailored support 

Although Shropshire Council already provides health outreach at livestock and farmers’ markets, Ms Wilding believes more tailored support is needed. She also wants to see more done for mental health.

“The farmers’ markets are great for blood pressure and signposting to cancer testing,” she said. “But is a farmer going to be open and honest about their mental health at the farmers’ market? Probably not.”

The survey seeks to identify what helps farmers to access healthcare and what prevents them from doing so.

“We can come up with ideas, and we can say this is what we should do, but we need that to come from them,” said Ms Wilding. “The more responses we receive, the stronger case we can make nationally.”

The longer-term aim is to secure RCGP backing for a national accreditation scheme. 

The Farming Community Network has welcomed the initiative, saying greater understanding of the pressures farmers face could lead to “more tailored support options”.

DPJ Foundation charity manager Kate Miles added: “If this helps to raise awareness among GPs and their staff of the specific barriers to healthcare faced by farmers and the concerns they may have, this is to be welcomed.”